Story of Generations Past
by operaghost96
Summary: We all know about Rin and the gang's exploits during cram school, but what about thirty years ago, when Shiro, Yuri, and their friends were attending? Well, this is their story.
1. Chapter 1

**I know I still have a SYOC for Blue Exorcist in the process, but I wanted a relatively normal one, too. There will also be more rules than last time (sorry about that) but you'll see that at the end of the chapter.**

Yuri Egyn was nervous. Beyond nervous. She paced back nad forth in front of Sir Pheles' office. Was she sure about this? Did she _really_ want to become an exorcist? Her father was a higher-up in the Knights of the True Cross, so it had always been assumed she'd follow in her father's footsteps. She had been prepared for it her entire life. She received a Temptaint as a toddler, she was taught about Assiah and Gehenna at the age of four, and grew up reading all types of religious scripst. She could even recite the entire book of Revelation in her sleep.

But this was her father's choice, not hers.

"_You're fifteen years old. Still a mere child. No daughter of mine will waste her life because of one stupid decision. If your mother were still here, she'd agree with me." _

But Suzume Egyn wasn't still there. She had died of cancer when Yuri was still an infant.

The door opened, her father shaking hands with Sir Pheles. The mand in the clownish getup greeted her, shaking her hand, saying, "Welcome to True Cross Academy."

Already present in the office were two teenagers—a boy and a girl. The boy, probably eighteen, had sandy blond hair and mahogany eyes hidden behind thick glasses. The girl was rather plain, with chest length dark brown hair and matching eyes. "Miss Egyn, these are your new classmates: Shirou Fujimoto and Ayumi Yamazaki."

**Ok, here's the form:**

**Name: (last, first)**

**Gender:**

**Age (14-18):**

**Meister:**

**Family:**

**Backstory:**

**Temptaint? (have they already received their temptaint by the beginning of the story):**

**Strengths:**

**Weaknesses (must balance strengths out)**

**Personality:**

**Appearance:**

**Clothes:**

**Okay, here are the rules: **

**THERE ARE NO HALF-DEMONS IN THIS STORY! All the students will be 100% bona-fide human!**

**Meister: I will only accept people with one Meister, or people who are taking two, but SUCK at the second one. (sub: if the student is a dragoon, please do your research of what guns actually existed from late 70s-early 80s. if your character is either a Knight or a Dragoon, please specify which weapon they use.) with Tamers, please specify your demon and summoning phrase.**

**Family/Backstory: Nothing too tragic or scarring, guys. I want a story with normal-ish kids. (Ex: Rich kid who was ignored by parents—ok. Orphaned at birth and forced to grow up isolated—not so much, but adopted kids are okay)**

**Strengths/weaknesses: they have to balance each other out. Ex: Good at intellect stuff but bad at physical**

**Personality: I'll be accepting a few angsty kids, but not too many.**

**Example Submission:**

**Name: Yamazaki Ayumi  
Age: 16  
Meister: Knight (uses a katana)  
Family: Shioko Yamazaki (mother) and Kotaro Yamazaki (father)  
Backstory: Ayumi grew up the only child of a rich family, so she was pretty much doted on her whole life, until a 'bug' bit her while she was sleeping and suddenly woke up seeing weird stuff, but her parents didn't notice because they were always too busy working  
Temptaint?: Yes  
Strengths: Since her dad runs a successful company, she is fairly talented at logistics and negotiation, and is also book-smart  
Weaknesses: Talent with logistics notwithstanding, she is not exactly good with **_**people**_**. She's a good dealmaker, but isn't good at emotional interpersonal interaction, and isn't street-smart since she pretty much grew up in her parents' mansion  
Personality: She is kind of spoiled and isolated, and usually has her nose in a book, usually one about history  
Appearance: Plain-looking, dark brown hair and eyes, with average height  
Clothes: Girls' uniform, as she attends True Cross classes in addition to Cram School**


	2. Meet Your Inmates! or classmates

**A/N: Hey peoples! Updates may be slow the next couple of weeks because my opening night is on Friday. Any of you live in Pennsylvania? No...? Aww. Too bad.**

**I only own Ayumi and the plot.**

"Not that meeting my classmates isn't completely _enthralling, _but I was assigned to show some first-years around campus." Shirou watched Ayumi walk off, leaving him to speak with Yuri. He hoped she would be a better conversationalist than the first girl, who responded as little as possible, before returning to her book.

"So, Yuri, what Meister will you be?"

Looking up, apparently surprised someone was talking to her, she responded, "Well, I could be an okay Aria, but I think I'd be a better Doctor. What about you?"

"I'm going to be an Aria. After all, the priests who brought me up always said I could talk someone to death." He was pleasantly surprised when his little joke elicited a giggle from her. "So you're the daughter of one of the cardinals, right?"

Her expression fell a little. "Yes. Since I didn't grow up with my mom, my father always controlled how I lived my life and he wants me to follow in his footsteps as an Exorcist, so here I am. What about you?"

"I'm going to study to be a priest, and all people going into a religious occupation have to at least know the basics, but between you and me, I want to be something more. Who knows, I might even become the Paladin!"

She laughed again. "Well, here's hoping."

XXXXX

Ayumi didn't really want to show the new kids around at all, didn't even want to attend True Cross and would rather continue to be tutored privately, but her father insisted that if she attended, she could get close with the children of owners of prestigious companies. Cram school was something her parents didn't know about, though.

She was disturbed from her reverie when a tall someone wearing a boys' uniform bumped into her. "Watch where you're going, idiot," she grumbled, rubbing her forehead.

"Umm, yeah… I… you… he…" He made wild, broad gestures to explain himself.

"You know what, don't bother. I've got work to do." She started to walk away.

"Umm… Do you know how I can get to the cram school?"

Well… anything to get her away from showing the first-years would be beneficial to her. "Fine. Come on…" she trailed off, asking his name.

"Uh, Ichiro. How would you know where it is?" Despite his long legs, he struggled to keep up with her fast pace.

"We're classmates now. Unfortunately. Well, to get introductions over with, I'm Ayumi. So do you attend the Academy, or are you just here for cram school?"

"Just for the cram school. I'm not much for education, and I doubt my parents could actually afford to send me here." Well, at least she didn't have to put up a façade of friendliness now that she knew his parents weren't influential.

Producing the key Sir Pheles gave her, she ran into three other students. Goody. The first was a black-haired girl with a purple glass eye that she couldn't help but stare at, a pale-skinned girl with a small scar under her eye, and another girl with whitish hair that reached her waist. All three looked foreign, and probably spoke atrocious Japanese. A brown-haired blur raced down the hall, crashing into the five of them. "Oh, crap. I'm not late, am I?" She rubbed the back of her head apologetically, all of the teens on their butts.

XXXXX

Kisuke looked around, feeling completely embarrassed and out of place.

"What the hell was that?!" demanded a blue-eyed girl with a scar under her eye.

"I guess I should look where I'm going. I have a habit of that…" she smiled sheepishly, almost crumpling under her intense gaze.

"Hey, don't worry about it! It happens to the best of us," comforted a white-haired girl in an extremely odd getup. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Emma."

The short-tempered one grumbled, "Ashen."

The only boy in the group held out his hand. "I'm… uh… Ichiro!" he fumbled for words.

A standoffish girl with a purple glass eye nodded. "Viatrice."

"Ayumi." The only other Japanese-looking girl muttered before looking down in a book.

"Well, well, look what we have here. Are these my first victims?" A scarred man with black hair and brown eyes wearing a trench coat smiled at them. "Are you here for the cram school?"

They all nodded.

"I'm your Summoning teacher, Ryuuzaki. Perhaps we should get started, then." He produced a key from his sleeve and opened the door to the supply room. Instead of finding mops, brooms, and the like, a green, orange, and yellow hallway stretched out what seemed endlessly to either side, dozens of rooms in their sights. "Welcome to True Cross Academy, kids." He pulled a tiny knife from his pocket. "Now, if you would be so kind as to sit down so we can proceed."

Kisuke was pleasantly surprised to see Emma pull up a chair beside her, behind two unfamiliar kids—a blond boy with glasses and a girl with curly dark hair.

XXXXX

Well, Ichiro honestly didn't know what to make of his new classmates. The klutzy girl who ran into the lot seemed pleasant enough, as well as Emma and Shirou, the only other boy in the class, who was chatting up a pretty dark-haired girl named Yuri. But the other girls were… off-putting. Ayumi was high-and-mighty, and something about her screamed manipulative. Viatrice… maybe it was just the glass eye that creeped him out, because aside from that, she seemed nice enough. That Ashen girl, however, just scared him. She looked like she was expecting an attack at any second, and the fact that he saw muscles showing behind the white shirt didn't exactly reassure him, either.

Returning his attention to the teacher, he used the knife to slice open his palm as he muttered something under his breath and some of those green and red monkey-things he'd been seeing popped into existence. "Let's get down to business. Who here hasn't received a Temptaint as of yet?"

Shirou, Kisuke, and Emma raised their hands.

"Oh. This is less than normal. That's good. Well, if you'll step forward, this will be a pinch, and then it'll be over."

The three stepped forward and held out their left arms. He rolled up their sleeves, took one of the demons, and held the head to Shirou's arm. The demon bit him, and he made a pained face before looking at the demon, and Ichiro realized that might be the first time he had ever seen a demon in his life. Kisuke responded much the same way, perhaps being a bit more vocal about the whole thing than Shirou, yelling things like "What is this?" and "I didn't sign up for this!". However, when he placed the demon to Emma's arm, she barely flinched and looked at the creature with indifference.

"Now, to begin, I'll let your Demonology teacher take over." On cue, a tall blond man who looked to be about twenty entered the room and dismissed Ryuuzaki and placed his briefcase on the teacher's desk.

"Good afternoon students. My name is Ashton Holoien, your Demonology and Seals and Circles teacher. Now, to begin with, let me take roll. Aigerar."

"Here."

"Dereveux."

"Here."

"Egyn."

"Here."

"Fujimoto."

"Here."

"Kaiser."

"Here."

"Kotori."

"Here."

"Matsuyo."

"Here."

"Yamazaki."

"Here." Ayumi stood up. Ichiro sucked at names, but he had heard of the Yamazaki Company, which was famous for making medical equipment. It certainly explained her arrogant attitude.

"Well, it seems everyone is here. Now, to start, let's go over one principle you should all know—that of Assiah and Gehenna."

XXXXX

Viatrice was comforted, in a way—she wasn't alone in seeing these monsters, and there were entire organizations devoted to stopping them, though she was still uncomfortable. Usually people wouldn't meet her eyes back in France; now, nobody would look away from the purple orb nestled where a light brown one once sat.

"There are three realms—Heaven, Assiah, and Gehenna. For simplicity's sake, we will focus on the latter two.

"Assiah is the physical realm, made of Earth and all the other planets in the universe, where we live. This is a quite simple fact to embrace. Gehenna, however, is a completely different matter. Gehenna is a mirror realm of Assiah, filled with evil and darkness, with malevolence. Some of you may be wondering how it was created, but we'll be going over that in a little bit. Gehenna is no new concept. Hell, Hades, and every other Underworld mentioned in human history was based off of Gehenna. Also, there is a religious tie to the realms as much as there is a scientific one, but we shall go over that later. Usually, contact between the two realms is impossible—the Creator had that in mind when He made Gehenna. But over time, demons found a way out: by possessing ordinary objects, dust, fungus, animals, they could enter Assiah and corrupt it. For thousands of years, mankind has been helpless against these attacks… until two thousand years ago.

"Many people know the works of Jesus' Twelve, but there was one act they performed that did humanity a greater service than any of the others. They created the Knights of the True Cross. Together, they found warriors… Roman centurions who went mad seeing beasts, Scribes who saw the demons, as with Doctors and gathered them to fight the onslaught of monsters flooding into our world. For hundreds of years, they were only known to the Pope, who was at the head, until Emperor Constantine was initiated into the Catholic Church, when they emerged to the government. They told Constantine of their mission, and approving of it, he set up a new ruling system for them. The head was still the Pope, with a body of cardinals under him, but the public Pope, the head of the church, was no longer in charge. Privately they gathered and elected a new one, and their work remained secret to civilians and the general public. Another change to the governing system that was made—they took the wisest elders and made them immortal with the use of a spell that is still a mystery to us. They became the Grigori, the highest of the order, higher even than the pope. They were the Silent Watchers, taking their name after the group of angels who did the same. With these changes made, the governing body of the Knights has remained the same, setting up branches in every new land they found… China, Japan, Mexico, America, Canada, one for each country in Africa and South America, Australia, and even Antarctica. With this introduction finished, read Chapter One in your Demonology books and do all the activities. I expect them to be handed in tomorrow."

"WHAT?!" Viatrice heard Ichiro screech and she had to suppress a chuckle.

"You heard what I said. If you have further questions, perhaps I should also assign Chapter Two."

"That's okay," he mumbled meekly.

**A/N: Please Review! Tell me your favorite part, character, whatever! It motivates me!**


	3. Mr Wilson, Class, and vice versa

**A/N: So, submissions have closed for now, except for Dragoon Pages, because I need those. Also, since I didn't get enough teachers, I had to enlist the help of 'Team X'.**

**Deadpool: Hell, yeah, sister! Do I get my face back?**

**Me: Why would you want your face back, anyway? You should just stick with the MJ mask.**

**Deadpool: …Shut up, you phsycopath.**

_Demons have taken many forms over the millennia, adjusting themselves to new cultures. For example, the Greek siren can easily be translated to the German…_ it was at that point that Ichiro lost consciousness, letting his head fall on his desk in the dorm.

The next he noticed, his roommate, Shirou, had dumped a bottle of water on him to wake him up. "Get up already. It's nine o'clock."

"What was that for?! School doesn't start for another week! And even then, I don't go to normal classes." He looked around his desk, ensuring his textbook hadn't gotten wet, or more importantly, the pictures of his family he kept around. "There's no need for you to be an asshole about waking me up, either," he grumbled.

He shrugged, a shameless grin on his face. "That's how the priests who brought me up did it. Do you need help with the reading?"

"You'd officially be awesome in my book if you helped."

He laughed, eyes brimming with tears behind his thick glasses. "An _ape _is probably awesome in your book." He recovered, still smiling. "It's pretty easy, if you think about it. Demons, when you look at it the scientific way and not the religious way, think of them as… immigrants. They come here from another place, looking for something special—life. In Gehenna, it's hot and soulless and nightmarish, so they come here to find a better life. Of course, being demons, they cause terror and kill and damage, but they don't care, so that's where exorcists come in. We save people from those monsters.

"To begin with, experts believe there were eight basic types of demons—offspring of the eight Demon Kings. Fish-like water demons, the children of Egyn; time- and mischief-causing demons, the children of Samael; fire demons, the children of Iblis; fear demons, the children of Abbadon; ghost demons, the children of Azazel; and so on. As humanity separated and cultures formed, demons separated and evolved into different species."

Ichiro was still confused, but he didn't want to risk another lecture that just made his head hurt more. "Uh… Thanks?"

XXXXX

"_Ja, mutti, Schule geht es gut,"_ Ashen told her mother whilst sharpening her sword.

"_Vorsichtig sein, meine Tochter,_" Her mother replied before hanging up.

"_Scheisse_," she muttered, falling back on the bed.

"Do you even _speak_ fluent Japanese?" asked her roommate (she kept forgetting her name. Amy?) a scowl on her face.

She held out her hand in a so-so gesture. "Kind of. My sister-in-law's been teaching me."

Her roommate groaned and hit her head off the desk. "My roommate doesn't even speak the goddamned language." She looked up. "Do you at least speak English?"

"Yeah."

A subtle grin lit her features. "I'll translate your lessons if you do my homework when I need it and help me with the physical activities."

"Okay. Thanks a lot! You're really great, being willing to help me out and all."

"Nooo problem."

XXXXX

When class the next day began, a new teacher was waiting in the room. As the class entered, he was sharpening a katana, not bothering to look up so that only his brown hair and pale skin was visible. "I see my victims have arrived," he said, tilting the polished blade of his weapon towards them.

"That would be us, sir," Emma said brightly, unable to stand the tense atmosphere anymore. "But why do you call us your victims?"

He offered a nonchalant shrug. "You'll find out," he said, offering a sick grin and looking up, showing an unshaven, scarred, and burned face and brown eyes. "I'm Mr. Wilson, your teacher on weapons. Now let's get this over with, I have a hot date named Neena. Who here is going out for Dragoon or Knight?"

She, Ayumi, Ashen, and Kisuke raised their hands. "We're all Knights, though," she said.

"Jesus, woman. Did I ask you to speak? You remind me of, well, me during my old days in the army. And those were not good days. If I hear one person mention good ol' Ike, I'll cut your tongue out." There was a terrifying insanity behind his eyes that warned her not to test his limits. She heard footsteps resounding from the hall, courtesy of her trained hearing. "Oh, come on. What is it now?"

He drew himself to his full height, showing off his well-muscled frame, not hidden by the Exorcist coat laying on the chair behind him, something neither of her other teachers (or her parents) had ever done. They heard a yelp and Mr. Wilson returned, holding a brunette boy with red eyes and a green hoodie (with short shorts, of all things, and red boots) by the scruff of his neck.

"Something I can do for you, bub?" he asked gruffly.

"Uh… cram school… Mephisto gave me the key…" he looked around. "Would _any_ of you care to help me?" Everyone collectively shook their heads. "I mean, I know Americans like it rough, but isn't this a bit extreme?" he offered a twisted grin.

Mr. Wilson just rolled his eyes and set him down. "I've got a friend who can turn you into mincemeat, and I hear Canadians are even worse-tempered than Americans. And you should've been here _yesterday_." He whipped out the katana with freakish ease and calmly stared him in the eye. "I'm going to be running a tight ship, and if you don't put your shit together, you'll get a one-way ticket to Hell."

"Okay," he choked out, barely able to meet his unrelenting gaze.

"That goes for all of you," he said, turning to the rest of the class. "One slip of attitude, one gesture that I don't like, and I'm sending you to our friend in the clown getup to fix that. Or, perhaps, I might send you to the Paladin. The bastard is as cold as ice and isn't about to be swayed by some snotty rich kids who think they're special just because they can see demons." Then he burst out laughing, and doubled over. "I'm sorry kids, but the look on your faces was just too funny. But seriously, step out of line and you get two choices… quick and easy or slow and painful." He set the weapon down. "First, to avoid lawsuits any of your parents might try to pull on me, weapons are not toys. They are used for killing, but if I see you point it at another human being who isn't possessed, and I'll have you locked away till you can't remember your own name. There are a lot of weapons for Knights. First, obviously for those native to Japan is the katana. Do you know what I like about this particular sword? It's memorable. If you whip out a couple of katanas at an ex-girlfriend's wedding, people don't forget." His expression turned somewhat nostalgic. "But then there's the wakazashi, which samurai used in conjunction with the katana, and then there's the ninjato, the _ninja blade_. Boy, you wouldn't believe the guts this spills! I'm talkin' five people in two seconds flat!"

He continued his lecture before allowing the knights to choose a sword. Ashen chose a two-handed European sword and swung it expertly, along with a dagger. Kisuke chose two plain daggers, spinning them in the palms of her hands. Ayumi simply chose a plain katana, no frills, before sitting back down. Finally, she chose a red katana with a black blade.

"Congratulations. You are now considered 'Armed and Dangerous'."

XXXXX

Wade sat down with his old friends at one of the few bars in town.

"Seriously, babe, I know that you didn't have the best time growing up, but kids, really?" Neena slurred from her seat beside him. "I'm an exorcist too, hell, we all are, but you don't see us freaking teaching rich brats." She crept closer to him, a wicked grin lighting up her pale blue eyes, despite the fact one was surrounded by a black Temptaint, earning her nickname 'Domino'.

"I doubt they'd like my teaching methods," chuckled Sablinova, who, despite already having taken five shots was still perfectly sober, an effect of her Russian upbringing. She flung her long, light blond hair over her shoulder.

Lester, who was completely shit-faced, laughed. "Sweetheart, they wouldn't last two seconds with the way you teach! Me, on the other hand…"

"Lester, you'd teach them by having them shoot squirrels or something like that."

He let out an indignant snort, already wobbling, falling on Sablinova. "Would not! But by the time I finished with them, they could shoot the pollen off a bee's ass from a mile away."

"How's about we make a bet, then," Wade suggested. "You guys all join as teachers and whoever excels most, wins."

They all shook his hands.

"And nothing permanent," he added as an afterthought.

**A/N: Thank you for reading! Neena, would you mind sending us off? Wade's throwing a hissy.**

**Domino: Well, for now it's goodbye from our own Opera Ghost, Bullseye, Silver Sable, Deadpool, and yours truly! Remember to review!**


	4. Who and Why?

**A/N: Here's another chapter, where we get to know the new teachers, and the students better! Remember, I really need some Dragoons. Please? Oh, and I only own Ayumi. **

Mephisto glared over the offending three exorcists who were still in their early twenties. True, he saw them as some of the most gifted exorcists of their time, but they were still troublesome, just as they were this moment.

"So?" Sablinova asked from the chair she was leaning on. The Russian was always unladylike to him, well, to everyone, but she proved to be brutally effective in the field, being one of the few exorcists at the moment that relied on hand-to-hand combat as opposed to using a sword or gun. At most, she'd use brass knuckles against a high-power demon. "What's your answer?"

"Come on," Neena pleaded, well, as close to pleading as the black-haired woman got. "You let _Wade_ teach here. He's the nuttiest out of all of us." She looked to her left, where the blonde Southerner sat. "Well, aside from Lester here," she amended.

"HEY!" yelled Lester, a little louder than necessary. "I am not crazier than that idiot Deadpool."

"Why do you call him that anyway?" Mephisto couldn't help but ask.

"Well, after he was diagnosed with brain cancer, before you healed him, we all took bets on when he would die. Then you came in with your magic, and, well, he won," replied Neena, looking straight at him. _God, her eyes are unnerving_. They wouldn't be if not for the giant black Temptaint over her left eye that didn't impede on her ability to see. She turned logical, seeing as she was the most reasonable person there. "Just think about it. You'll have your best corps of exorcists teaching the next generation. Wade, obviously, is teaching them the basics of weapons handling. Lester will train the Dragoons, because we all know he's the best marksman out in the field, Sable will teach hand-to-hand combat, especially for Arias and Doctors. And, finally, I'll teach strategist in the entire Order. Taught by us, the next class will be unstoppable. Let's make a deal, Mephisto, because we all know you love making deals."

He leaned back in his chair, setting his booted feet on the desk. "Well, now that you put it _that_ way, I don't see why not."

XXXXX

Ichiro reluctantly followed his class into the room used for new Pages, sure that there was going to be another two chapters of a textbook dumped on him for homework (which he still hadn't done) after class. Needless to say, as a red-blooded male, he was happy to see a curvy blonde woman sitting on the desk, wearing white leggings and a matching tank top and boots.

"Hello," she began, bearing a Russian accent. "My name is Sablinova, but to keep you from twisting it into God-knows-what, you can just call me Silver Sable. I'm your new hand-to-hand combat teacher. Now, to begin, I'll need a volunteer." She pointed with a white-polished finger until settling on him. "You. With the pretty blue eyes. Come up here, please." He looked around, praying that someone else had 'pretty blue eyes', but seeing as the only other people with the same color, Ashen and Emma, were sitting at the opposite side of the room as him, so it was definitely him she was talking to. Reluctantly, he strode to the front of the room beside the woman.

She examined him closely, feeling his muscles and poking his stomach, probably to test his fat content. "You are muscular. That is good. Now, sometimes, you will eventually have to fight demons possessed by humans, so you cannot kill them. But, you can hurt them. Girls, pay close attention to this in case you are ever… approached. You," she turned to face him again. "Tell me your name."

"Uhh… Ichiro." He could feel himself turning red from all the sets of eyes on him.

"Ichiro, try to attack me from behind." He did as he was told, only to be stopped by a swift elbow to the gut and a foot to the groin, then flipped over her head onto his back. "Now, with enough strength training, this maneuver is simple to perform." She looked down at him. "Are you okay to get up and continue?"

He let a groan before looking up, with a fake smile on his face. "That all you got?"

She grabbed his wrist and pulled him up. "I like you, kid." She slapped him on the back. "You're tough." She brought her attention to the rest of the class. I want you to spend at least half an hour in a gym every day on bench presses or something like that."

XXXXX

The next class took place in a room nearly identical to the last. _Of course, _Kisuke thought_, this place is the same all over. _The way that there were so many twists and turns to the design of the cram school almost reminded her of one of the mazes she did in grade school—designed to be misleading. The entire place was the same color scheme, with only one floor and no art hanging from the walls. After seemingly endless turns, the class reached the next room.

Surprisingly, this room was different—white walls, black desks, grayscale pictures. In the middle sat a woman with black hair, skin so pale to the point it was almost gray, icy blue eyes with a huge black mark over the left one, and a black leather getup. She was holding a stopwatch, which upon their entry, she pressed the button. "About time you got here. I want you to be getting from Sablinova's to here in less than a minute from now on, got it?" she turned her unnerving gaze to them. "I'm Ms. Thurman, your strategy teacher. Because of the many applications of this subject, we'll start by studying ancient battles. Now, what battle would you like to study?"

No one responded.

"Come on, kids, throw me a bone. You're lucky you didn't get _my_ old strategy teacher."

Akihiko (the new boy who Mr. Wilson scared senseless) raised his hand. "What about the battle of Midway?"

There was a collective flinch from all the Japanese students, aside from the boy who asked the question. "Now that one, I can tell you about. After all, my dad did fight there. You see, until then, the Japanese had been taking over most islands in the Pacific before the Allies regained them. Midway, as its name suggests, was what happened when the Allies started _gaining _land. It was such a bloody battle, as both parties knew just how important this was… a turning point of the war."

XXXXX

The next class was, surprisingly, out in an open field.

"What do you think we're supposed to do here?" asked Emma.

"Train," said Ashen, already unsheathing her sword with terrifying speed.

It was about then that a clay bird was launched into the sky, followed by a gunshot and the bird shattering to pieces. She heard an insane laugh from who she could only assume was the shooter. "Haha! Did you see that shot? That was beautiful! Alright, who are my Dragoons that I get to train?" when no one raised their hands, his face fell a little, but cackled again. "Alright! That just makes my job easier. I'm not one for formalities, so you can just call me 'Lester'."

"Lester?" choked Ichiro, who soon doubled over in laughter. She had to admit, the boy's laughter was contagious, as soon Shirou joined in, and Yuri beside her, before she joined too, followed by the entire class.

A warning shot was fired in the air. "If you had half a brain cell, you'd know better than to make fun of my name. I'm not sure if you heard of me, but I'm better known by my 'code name', 'Bullseye'."

That immediately sobered her up, as well as Ashen and Yuri. They knew, since they were raised by families of exorcists, how dangerous this man really was. He was the best shot in the Order, and not mentally stable at that. She didn't doubt that if someone pushed enough of his buttons, they'd find themselves pushing daisies.

"Now, I guess I have to teach you all the basics, anyway." He led them all to a table where several handguns sat. "Now, to lay some rules down: these guns are for only training. When you arrive, take a gun. When you leave, put it back. These are not toys. These are not full of blanks. They are filled with the standard holy silver bullets. So, in other words, don't point them at each other, don't turn the safety off until I tell you, and don't, and I repeat _don't_, do anything stupid." His bloodshot eyes were serious for once when he met all of theirs.

XXXXX

Viatrice flopped herself on the bed, not bothering to take out her glass eye. She saw that Yuri, her new roommate, looked strangely troubled. "Something wrong?"

She looked back at her, running a brush through her long, curly dark hair. "Nothing." When she continued to glare, she folded. "My dad is a cardinal. I've met all of our new teachers on at least one occasion, you know, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Lester, Ms. Sable and Ms. Thurman. They're the best. Heck, they're the best of the best. They even made an elite team for the most dangerous exorcisms—Team X. So it just doesn't sit right with me that four of the best exorcists in the world bothered to teach at a small-time cram school instead of the American branch at least."

Viatrice leaned back down, too tired to think. "Maybe they were put up to it," she mumbled tiredly.

"Yeah, but who, and why?"

**A/N: Thank you for reading and please review!**


	5. Use their Entrails as WHAT!

**A/N: I'm sorry for not updating sooner, but my family went on vacation and there was. No. WiFi. I have never gone so long without internet in years. I was going to go insane. But now that that's over with, I offer you a new, long-ish chapter as an apology.**

Lester was enjoying the early-morning air. It was nostalgic for him—reminding him of his days back in Tennessee before all the madness with seeing demons started and he was just another redneck who made his living off the land and whose dinner was whatever he shot. Now he was in Japan, a country he had barely heard of growing up aside from the lessons about World War Two. Thankfully, Mephisto had cast some sort of spell that allowed them to speak the language perfectly, with the slightest trace of an accent.

His reverie was interrupted when he heard heavy, fast footsteps on the ground. He looked behind him to see a sandy head of hair. "Mr. Lester?"

"Is there a reason you're up so early?" he asked through a cigarette, returning his attention to the handguns he was cleaning.

"I was wondering… if I could possibly… get more practice with the guns," he gasped between much-needed breaths. How far had this kid run, anyway?

"You're a stubborn little bastard, aren't you?" he asked, not without amusement. The kid reminded him of himself when he was in cram school, for the first time actually _trying_ and _working_ for something. He could almost see shaggy blond hair and too-long limbs with mildly sunburned skin. _Dammit, Lester, you're getting old, _he reprimanded himself. "Alright, go ahead. I just cleaned this one." He gently handed the teen a handgun, then set up the first of the targets and got out of the way, giving the Shirou kid the go-ahead.

His first try was comical, to say the least. Out of the clip of ten, only about five made it on the target, and even then, they were peppered around the outside. "Come on!" he fumed. "There's gotta be something wrong with this thing!"

Lester laughed. "The problem's not with the gun, but with the handler. Remember what I told you about how dangerous guns can be yesterday?" he nodded. "You're holding it like you're afraid of it. Don't be. Loosen up. Don't be reckless, but don't be terrified. You have to find the middle ground. Take a deep breath, and try again."

Shirou did as ordered, and this time, seven of the ten made the target, and they all clustered around the upper center. "How about that?" the kid asked, somewhat eagerly.

He had to try hard to contain a laugh. "Not bad, kid. I'll make an exorcist of you yet. Come on, try again." _No, _he thought, _I'm way too young and good-looking to get sentimental._

XXXXX

Class began at the normal time, right after normal school should let out, and everybody was in the Demonology room, knowing better than to be late to Mr. Holoien's class. True to his routine, just as the bell rang, the teacher walked in, called roll, and began to go over the answers from the previous night's homework.

"Question 1: Egyn is the king of what?" he looked around for a volunteer, and Ashen couldn't help but laugh at the simplicity of the question. The answer had been drilled into her head since she was little. The teacher obviously caught her little chuckle and called her out on it. "Ms. Kaiser. Since it is so obvious you know everything, would you care to explain who Egyn is and his place in Gehenna, as well as the Circles?"

She stood up, blushing slightly due to being called out on her arrogance, and began. "Egyn is the King of Water, and the eldest and most powerful Demon King. He has a place in the circle of Fraud, where he tortures those who have committed and lived by the aforementioned sin."

"Yes. And may I ask that you keep your comments to yourself from now on?" she could feel his turquoise eyes on her and immediately felt guilt. _At least Ayumi's been making good on her side of the deal_, she thought halfheartedly.

"Question 2: The most powerful demon under Egyn's rule is…" he pointed out Akihiko. "You were pretty quiet yesterday, but I'm sure you know the answer." He looked at the boy condescendingly, examining him. All the students had had to undergo his examination sooner or later, so he might as well have gotten it over with.

The kid thought hard, a knot forming over his ruby eyes, before snapping his fingers. "I got it! It's a Kraken, right?"

Mr. Holoien rolled his eyes a little at the new student's proud expression. "Yes, it is the Kraken: a giant squid spoken of in many mythologies."

In a way, she pitied the brunette teen in the odd getup. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but he never got any luck with the teachers, who either ignored his antics or made him stay after class so they could chew him out.

XXXXX

Ayumi automatically groaned when Demonology class ended—she hated Summoning because no matter how many times she pricked her finger in hopes of a chant coming to her, she never caught any luck with it. For all she knew, Ryuuzaki-sensei was a great teacher, but she developed distaste for the man based on the fact that she could never gain ground on the subject he taught. _Mother and Father would have a field day if they found that I was struggling in any of my subjects,_ she thought bitterly. She had always been raised on a few main principles—succeed at everything, business ties were more important to form than those in relationships, and to never let yourself be taken advantage of. She was good at the last two, though there weren't exactly any rich kids around to make ties with, but Summoning was her Achilles' heel.

"Okay, kids," Ryuuzaki-sensei began perfunctorily, opening his book and drawing a giant summoning circle in chalk on the floor, "I decided that since you learned as much as I can teach from a book, we'll start by trying to summon. Shirou," the blond merely shook his head sadly. "Alright then, Yuri." She simply looked down and shook her head, unable to meet his eyes. "Ayumi." She shook her head. "Hey, kids, it's alright. Only a few in each class are ever really able to successfully become a Tamer. It's just not in the cards for you. Now, Viatrice."

The streak was broken when she bit her thumb and murmured, "The ice responds to my every command. Send your kin." A silver fox with red eyes appeared and bowed before her.

"An ice fox. Not bad. Ashen," the girl simply shrugged, looking him straight in the eyes. "Emma." She shook her head lightly, the small smile never leaving her face. Ichiro."

"Servant of Inari, trickster of the gods, answer my call and defend me," the boy muttered under his breath as a fox appeared.

"A Kitsune demon," his eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Good work. Kisuke."

"Nope," the girl said, shaking her head.

"Akihiko."

He produced a pen from his pocket and very nearly shouted, "I pray for 100 days I will pray from a 1000 more! Now appear before me the embodiment of sin!" Instead of an animal floating into existence, a good-looking male did, which left Ayumi confused.

"An incubus?" the teacher asked with a mix between respect and disgust. "Not bad, I suppose. Is that everyone?" when the class collectively nodded, he continued, "I want all of the Tamers to practice their verses and control over their demons. Understood? Class dismissed."

XXXXX

"An incubus?!" Wade spit out the water he was drinking before breaking out in laughter. Neena patted his back gently, not wanting her boyfriend to hurt himself (again). She couldn't deny how amusing the situation was. She'd met many female tamers who managed to summon them, but few males.

"I'm serious!" Kiba exclaimed, his mouth still full of rice ball. "The kid managed to summon an incubus!"

"I must admit, this is amusing," Sablinova agreed over her vodka (she hardly ate or drank anything else). "But perhaps it is in my own strange sense of humor."

Lester, on the other hand, had just fallen out of his chair and was having a hard time breathing. "A guy… summoned… an incubus!"

Kiba had recovered from the laughing spell, though a small smile remained on his face. "So why would this poor Tamer have the honor of meeting the prestigious 'Team X'? Shouldn't you be in Vietnam flushing out demons or something like that?"

"We should be, but I wanted a change of pace," Wade said, punching his chest to help the food along. "Killing demons gets kind of old at times."

"And after that, we all just followed," Neena shrugged.

"And you can follow me anywhere you want," he grinned, kissing her on her black cheek.

"Come on, what's the real reason?" asked Ashton from the end of the table.

"Well, we kind of have a bet going on," Lester began.

"That whoever's students excels most in a class taught by us wins," Sablinova finished.

"So could we get into it?" Ashton asked, surprising everyone.

"You could bet on us, yeah, I guess," contemplated Wade.

"In that case, I'm going with Neena." That surprised her. She hardly expected to be bet on for this. When everyone looked at him, he defended his choice. "Hey! Neena's always got a plan, and it _never_ fails."

Kiba thought hard before saying. "My money's on Wade. He beat the pool once, so I don't think it's that hard for him to do it again."

"Alright. Shake hands and place your money on the table."

XXXXX

After dinner, the class was forced to return to cram school class. Thankfully, the next one was one of Emma's favorites. Leading the pack to Mr. Wilson's class, she was greeted with a knife headed straight for her face. _What the hell…?_ She barely had enough time to catch it before it made contact.

"Good eye, kid. Now let's get to work."

Lying on Mr. Wilson's desk was nothing less than an arsenal, more packed than last time, including crude weapons that looked like spikes and… were those _pineapple grenades?_ There was a knock on the door, and Mr. Wilson answered it, revealing Sir Pheles and four children, three of which seemed to crowd each other. "I have new students for you," He started, giving him one of his trademark grins.

Wade was not impressed. "It's halfway during the freaking day. Don't you think you should've stuck them with Kiba?" Emma had to work to catch her breath. She _never_ heard _anyone_ talk back at Sir Pheles like that.

The smile vanished briefly. "Well, yes, but these three," he nudged the gray-haired teens, who all looked to be seventeen, "insisted on being late. Or are these children too much to handle?"

Mr. Wilson raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I fought in Vietnam while battling brain cancer. I had to flush out an entire town possessed with demons in Cambodia. I think I can handle some bratty teens who think they're hot shit."

"In that case, I leave them in your capable hands. But remember: no permanent injuries."

"In that case, it depends on how much they piss me off." When Sir Pheles exited, he sent a look at the four that made _her_ want to hide somewhere he would never find her. "I'm Mr. Wilson, your weapons basics teacher. Give us your names, meisters, and crap like that. Blondie, you start."

"My name is Ava Cruseo, and I'm going to be a dragoon. I'm looking forward to working with you all." Though well-mannered, she seemed kind of distant, Emma decided, before Ava took her seat.

"Finally! Some testosterone in this place! I was beginning to think I'd have to deal with an all-girls-and-wimpy boy's class. Alright, dude, name, meister, and that stuff."

The new boy was silver-haired with piercing red eyes, the color of blood. However, despite the unnerving eyes, he seemed quite relaxed, and if she was being honest with herself, good-looking. "I'm Aeron Whisp. I'm working to be a dragoon."

It appeared as if Mr. Wilson was stifling a laugh. "You get to spend some quality time with Lester then. I'm sorry, dude. He'll take care of that later. Alright, next. You with the green eyes." The two remaining girls, both sporting green eyes with drastically different shades, stepped forward. "Not you. The one with her hair down."

"I'm Quella Whisp, Aeron's sister. I want to be an Aria."

"Now the other one."

The remaining girl whose hair was swept into a loose ponytail and dark green eyes looked somewhat irritated at being addressed as 'the other one'. "My name's Fantasia Whisp, Aeron's and Quella's sister. I want… well, I'm not sure what I want to be yet but I'll make up my mind eventually." She sat down and class started again, for real this time.

"One minute," Mr. Wilson excused himself and walked to the door. "IF I GET ANY MORE DISTRACTIONS I'M RIPPING YOUR HEAD OFF AND USING YOUR ENTRAILS AS CHAINS ON MY BICYCLE!" he shouted to the halls and Emma couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and look at Yuri, who she hoped knew more about the inner workings of their teacher. She offered an apologetic shrug and giggled at the teacher's miniature temper tantrum.

**A/N: Well, I hate to do this, but there are so many characters now that I have to close submissions, and if I add any more, they won't get in. So please review! I want to know how I'm doing!**


	6. Need an Ice Pack?

**A/N: Sorry for the late update! I spent the past couple weeks away from home, so I didn't have much time to type it up. Hopefully this (somewhat) funny chapter will make it worth the wait!**

**I only own Ayumi.**

"Oh, look. More newbies." A woman with pale skin and a black Temptaint over one vivid blue eye said boredly, not without contempt. "I'm Ms. Thurman, your strategy teacher. Nice to meet you, I guess. Give me your names and your meisters and let's get started." Aeron was more than a little taken aback by the teacher's bluntness. After the three triplets introduced themselves, she directed them to a three-person table in the middle of the immaculate white room.

Ms. Thurman nodded after they took their seats and started writing on the chalkboard: _Thermopylae_. Turning around, she inquired, "Who here knows anything about this?" The plain-looking girl in the front raised her hand. "Ayumi."

"The battle of Thermopylae was a two front battle in the Greco-Persian wars. The front that is most known was when King Leonidas led three hundred Spartans into battle against half a million Persians. The pass of Thermopylae naturally bottlenecked the massive army, and in the phalanx position they saw few, if any, casualties in the first day. When the Persians found a turncoat and found that there were no reinforcements, the Persians came around from behind. The next two days were a bloodbath, with no survivors on the Grecian side and about half of the Persians dead or mortally wounded." Aeron looked at the girl in surprise. How the hell would she know all that?

She let out a low whistle. "I wanted the gist of it, not a course on it. But yes, you were right. But for the moment, we will focus on what happened on the first day." She drew a diagram that was wider in the bottom and funneled in towards the top, making it look like a wine bottle with the bottom cut off. "What they did here was effectively crowd in the Persians so the Spartans had to fight less at a time. When you are outnumbered to this degree, this is a perfect example of what you should do." The class lasted on about this particular battle and what went wrong for twenty minutes until the bell rang. The girl with the glass eye raised her hand. "Viatrice?"

"No homework today?"

Ms. Thurman simply laughed. "No. We're not going from a textbook here, we're just going over battles for the time being. Now get lost."

XXXXX

Shirou looked at his cram school class schedule and grinned. The next class was taught by Miss Sable, and though he knew he was going to become a priest and should give up worldly pleasures, the Russian teacher was the exception to the rule in his book. When the class walked in, they took their customary seats, his beside Yuri, who he would make a pastime of telling her lame jokes to make her laugh and ease up.

"Good afternoon, students. Today, we are going to…" she was cut off when Mr. Wilson's muscular form dropped from an air vent and greeted her with a fist to her gut. She staggered back, and swept her foot under his, making him lose his balance and trip. "Have enough, _amerikanskiy_?" she asked, pinning him to the ground with one booted foot.

Mr. Wilson just grinned. "Not even close, Russki." He braced his forearm against the inside of her knee, forcing her to lose balance. He took this advantage to stand up and they once again held equal ground. From there, the fight became a dance. When she aimed for his face with an impossibly high and fast kick, he would duck and counter with a harsh hit to the gut, which she dodged easily. The deadly dance went on for about five minutes until she propelled herself up by jumping on Shirou's desk and landed on Mr. Wilson's shoulders, her thighs strangling him. He relented, and she simply sat down. "Lesson learned…" he panted. "Picking a fight with an ex-KGB agent… not smart."

Ms. Sable simply chuckled. "Wade, you never learn that. Not when we met, not when we sparred, and certainly not now. Now go back to your classroom." As Mr. Wilson, more than a little abashed, disappeared out the door, the class resumed. "Did you get any of those moves?" at the blank stare the entire class gave her, she said, "Good. Now you are all going to spar each other. Pair up."

The entire class had paired up, with the exception of him and Yuri. He felt immediately guilty at the thought of hitting a girl, and the fact it was the only friend he'd made with the exception of Ichiro didn't help either. He'd grown rather fond of the cardinal's daughter.

"So… I guess we have to… fight each other," said the pretty teal-eyed girl, a blush coloring her delicate features.

He felt himself turn red, too. "Uhh… yeah." He resolved to go easy on her, and whenever he'd land a hit, he would barely make contact. The two began to circle each other until Yuri made the first move, punching him in the face. Hard. He moved to counter, but the girl took advantage of his wide-legged stance and made the lowest move in the book when she slid between his legs and drew her knee up harshly to connect with his crotch. The pain radiated throughout the area as he held his family jewels protectively. "I give up," he groaned.

Yuri's eyes widened. "Miss Sablinova! We need an ice pack! I hurt Shirou!" when the teacher returned, she saw him cringing, curled up on the floor and laughed.

"I really like you, kid," she told Yuri, slapping her on the back.

XXXXX

When Quella was told that there was a class that taught the use of guns, she could tell that Aeron, who had always loved firearms, was excited. But though she was enthusiastic about most things, she couldn't anticipate this class. After all, who even _uses_ guns? After taking one good look at her teacher in this class, she understood who did.

In her eyes, Mr. Lester was a sunburned, mentally unstable man with hair the color of dandelions with the wiry frame of one who grew up on a farm and the grin of someone who just escaped from an insane asylum. All in all, she wondered what had happened to him to make him that way. Turning her head, she saw the pretty brunette who hurt Shirou a few minutes ago blushing and apologizing over and over. Then she saw the guns. Usually when she thought of guns, she thought of giant mechanical monsters that felled humans indifferently. Now looking at them, she could only pay attention to how shiny they were in the sunlight. She felt herself get elbowed gently in the side.

"Not now, sis," Aeron whispered in her ear. She returned her attention to Mr. Lester, who was giving a speech.

"Now, kids, listen hard and listen good. I know that only a few of you are actually going to be Dragoons, but until you take that ExWire exam, you're all under my jurisdiction. First. Some of you might not be easy about killing demons, but let me tell you something. The only good demon is a dead one. They feed off the Earth and don't give us anything in return. They're mindless, bloodthirsty beasts who deserve nothing more than to be put down." His hand unconsciously moved over his stomach, as if remembering an old wound. "Second. Guns are not toys. They're not meant to show your friends. They're not meant to use just because you don't like someone. The guns I am letting you use are only for demons, and if I see you using them the wrong way, aiming them at anyone or letting the safety off, this will result in an immediate expulsion from the cram school. Understood?" Terrified, Quella nodded her head. "Good. Now let's get started."

XXXXX

Sablinova punched Wade in the arm as hard as she could. "Bastard."

Wade, who was never necessarily good-looking to start with, tried to contort his features in a puppy dog face. "Sab! What was that for?"

"You know damn well! You pretty much announced that I was a KGB agent! You know I don't like going back… there. And that if I ever go back to Russia…" she shook her head. "I don't even want to think about it."

Neena nodded beside him. "She's right. It _was_ a dick move."

Lester glared. "Yeah. What do you think I'd do if I brought up… what happened in Tennessee?" He laughed suddenly. "This reminds me of the time we were first sent out as a team to take care of some stuff in Vietnam. You guys remember that?"

Neena laughed, too. "Yeah. Wade wasn't right in the head," she looked at him. "Well, even _worse _in the head because he had his… _issue_ solved and he started narrating the mission." She struck a pose. "'That night, it was just the four of us. Bullseye, the legendary marksman. Domino, the master strategist. Silver Sable, the KGB agent gone rogue. And me. The oh-so-heroic _DEADPOOL_!"

The other three laughed at Wade's expense as he merely pouted. "You think you're being funny, don't you?" he joined in. "You, my love, are some piece of work!"

"Well, I guess you rubbed off on me," Neena said, grinning.

"Why you—" he tackled her into the decorative fountain in the center of the campus. A lethal fight soon turned childish with splashes.

"Well, look who's taking full advantage of the school's amenities," said a familiar voice of poisoned honey behind them. They all looked up to see Mephisto in his customary white suit and hat, his left eyebrow twitching.

They immediately got out and bowed respectfully. "We're sorry, Sir Pheles!"

He remained silent, but as he walked away, twirling his umbrella. Due to her enhanced hearing, Sablinova could barely make out, "Idiots. I hired complete and total idiots."

"At least we can have fun, _bes_!"

XXXXX

Silver Sable's use of Russian

_Amerikanskiy- _American

_Bes_- Devil; Fiend

**A/N: Thank you for reading and tune in next time for the newest chapter of 'Story of Generations Past'! What did you think? Please click the review box below and let me know!**


	7. My Crazy Roommate

**A/N: Yeah, yeah, I'm really, really bad with updates. But I've had a busy summer and an awful lot of stories. And I only own Ayumi and Sister Agnes.**

"_How clearly the sky reveals God's glory. How plainly it shows what he has done. Each day announces it to the following day; each night repeats it to the next."_

Ichiro's eyes opened after some struggle. What the hell was Shirou doing now? He turned his head to see his roommate kneeling by his bunk, eyes closed. Was he… praying?

"No speech or words are used, no sound is heard, yet their message goes out to all the world…" He snapped out of it and looked at his roommate. "What are you doing up so early? I usually have to drag your sorry ass out of bed each morning."

"Well, I was sleeping, but you woke me up. What was that?" He sat up a little too quickly before remembering that he was on the bottom of a set of bunks. "OW! Dammit!" he muttered, rubbing his head. Fortunately, students of the cram school didn't have to reside in rooms of four people each and Sir Pheles kept each room's population at two.

Shirou looked at him blankly, squinting due to the fact he didn't have his glasses on at the moment. "Watch out. You're on the bottom bunk."

He simply glared at him. He knew that Shirou meant no harm, and had certainly grown used to his strange sense of humor, but it still annoyed him. "Really? I didn't notice."

"Judging by the growing lump on your head, it is safe to say you didn't."

"_Anyway,_" he hissed through clenched teeth, trying to change the subject, "What was that?"

"Morning prayers. Nineteenth Psalm. Old habits die hard, I guess. I was stuck getting up at sunrise at my old monastery to clean up the church and do maintenance work. But before that, all of the priests and I would get together for morning prayers." He put on his glasses, and got up.

"So you don't have parents?"

"Not that I want to know. They dumped me on a doorstep as a newborn. The priests have been my family as long as I can remember. After they retire, I'm going to take over the monastery. Before that, seminary school. Before I can do that, cram school. All priests need to go through it. Well, I need to go."

"Go where?"

"For a walk." With that, he was out the door.

Ichiro plopped back on the bed. _God, if you exist, why did you fix me up with a nutjob for a roommate?_

XXXXX

Yuri stared at Ayumi's side of the room. Her roommate was insane. Absolutely, positively, insane. Looking on her roommate's side of the shared desk, she saw a pile of books and what she supposed were reports to accompany them. Sitting beside that was a list of students enrolled in the academy that were not attending on scholarship. A pair of expensive-looking glasses laid on top of her demonology textbook. _Does she even sleep at all?_

"Shouldn't you know it's rude to look through another person's things?" asked Ayumi from the doorway to their bathroom, holding her left eye open with her right hand and holding something on the tip of her left index finger, putting it in and blinking a few times. "In fact, at a school of this caliber, I believe that Sir Pheles made it illegal." She paused. "I don't suppose you attend actual school here."

Yuri blushed slightly. One reason she wasn't very good with people was that she had been forced to homeschool. "No."

"Then go back to bed and stop looking at my stuff. It's none of your concern that school starts today. Sweet dreams," she added sarcastically and flipped off the light. Not long after she left, Yuri hear a knock on the door. Opening it, she was somewhat surprised to see Miss Sable, clad in her usual white leather getup.

"I'm here on your father's orders," she started, skipping pleasantries and walking straight in. "Apparently, he thinks you can't watch out for yourself. I'm supposed to fix that. Let's go. I got a mission in Cambodia in three hours, and that's assuming Wade doesn't decide to fly the jet." _Wade doesn't… what? Who's Wade? _"I suppose he's 'Mr. Wilson' to you."

"Why are you going to Cambodia? Isn't there a branch of their own out there?"

Her face grew dark. "Not anymore. I don't suppose you're familiar with international affairs at the moment?"

Yuri shook her head. "Not a clue."

"Their dictator, who was somehow possessed by the Impure King, killed them all. He's housing a nest of Scorpio demons under his mansion and we have to flush them out." She started walking out of the room, and Yuri decided it was best to follow her. "So, Yuri… that's a strange name for a girl. In Russia, where I come from, it is decidedly a man's name. The first man in space shared your name."

"My dad used to live in Russia as a child. But then his parents fled to America a little after World War II ended. He enlisted when he was 16, moved up in the ranks, and got transferred to Japan. Somewhere along the road, he found out about demons. So the same thing happened with the True Cross."

"So he hardly remembers his roots. Either that or he really wanted a son. By the way, beating Shirou like that yesterday? A spark of genius. Now get dressed. I'll be waiting outside your room. Count yourself lucky. Where I grew up, I rarely even got that luxury."

XXXXX

Shirou needed contacts.

The sweat running down his face into his eyes was throwing off his aim, or at least that's what he wanted to tell Mr. Lester.

"C'mon, kid, you're better than this. I haven't even moved you up to a higher caliber gun yet. Now do it again. Faster."

The exercise was to hit a series of targets running, change the clip without stopping, and continue, no suffering in aim to show for it. He had seen Mr. Lester do it once, to give him the idea of the exercise, and he knew now why he was regarded as one of the best in the Order. He attempted it again, but just as he was changing the clip, he lost his footing, hit a rock, and found himself plummeting to the earth. Getting up, he realized that his glasses had fallen off, and searching blindly for them, he found them, but frowned in dismay at their state. The nose pieces had fallen off, a lens had popped out, and one of the arms was bent beyond any hope of repair. Insult was added to injury when Mr. Lester was tearing up, laughing, and almost doubled over.

"Wow, kid. I didn't know it was possible to be so uncoordinated."

"Oh, come on! It's not like you were always a killing machine."

"I was, actually. I grew up in Tennessee, and my dad refused to pay for anything we could make ourselves. So naturally, we never exactly went grocery shopping. We made our living off the land. We hunted, and I started, too once I could hold a gun."

"If you're so bent on self-sufficiency, why are you an exorcist?"

He paused, looking down briefly. "Because the only good demon is a dead one. They don't build; only destroy. They want this world for themselves, and I'll be damned before I let them have it. They're incapable of doing good. So if you ever come face to face with a demon, remember this: They don't know what truth is. You're better off just killing them before they open their mouths, no questions asked. Even in the form of an infant, the evil is still there." On him, a phone started ringing. He picked it up. Muttering a series of affirmatives, he hung up. "Okay, kid. I got a mission to take care of. Me, Wilson, Sablinova, or Thurman won't be teaching any classes today. You grew up in a missionary, right?"

He nodded the affirmative.

His face split into a grin. "Well, spare a prayer, will ya? Wilson's driving the chopper." He paused. "Oh, and kid." He threw a cigar at him. "We'll share these once I get back." He held up his hand to show an identical one.

XXXXX

It was a half-day for cram school today, thankfully. Kisuke decided that maybe joining the cram school hadn't been such a good idea, after all. All of the classes could put her to sleep almost instantly with the exception of Mr. Wilson's and Ms. Sable's classes, due to the interactive components. And the summoning and strategy classes? Forget it. Mr. Ryuuzaki even named the chalkboard where she would always have to write _I will not fall asleep in class_ a hundred times after her. And the punishment at Ms. Thurman's class where she would have to write a 5-page essay on a battle of her choosing and how it could've ended differently was now called "Getting Kisuke'd". And Sister Agnes was constantly rapping her hand with a ruler, to the point where both of her hands and wrists were almost completely black and blue. She absolutely hated Scripture Recitation class.

"Miss Kotori!" yelled the nun, distracting her from her reverie. "Daydreaming again?" She felt the sharp sting of the wooden ruler on the back of her hand. She barely understood what Sister usually said, due to the fact that her convent was worldwide, and she herself came from India. But her usual punishments gave a crystal clear message.

"I am sorry, Sister. What were you asking?"

"Please recite the passage you were assigned to memorize last night."

She drew a blank. It was from the Bible, as it usually was. Maybe it was a Psalm? Or was it Kings? "I don't know, Sister. I'm sorry."

The Sister scoffed. "Very well. Mr. Fujimoto? Would you care to recite the passage?"

He stood up. "Vanity of vanities, so sayeth Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! What profit have we from all the toil which we toil at under the sun? One generation departs and another generation comes, but the world forever stays. The sun rises and the sun sets; then it presses on to the place where it rises. Shifting south, then north, back and forth shifts the wind, constantly shifting its course. All rivers flow to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place here they flow, the rivers continue to flow. All things are wearisome, too wearisome for words. The eye is not satisfied by seeing nor has the ear enough of hearing." With that, he sat back down.

Sister Agnes nodded at him approvingly. "Very good, Mr. Fujimoto."

Kisuke felt the blood rush to her face. "No fair! He was raised in a church! Nobody else probably knows that passage, and he's, like, the only Aria in the class!"

This time, the ruler went down on her head. "You will not speak unless spoken to, young lady! And no interrupting in class!"

When class ended, Shirou stopped by her. "Hey, I'm sorry that Sister flipped out on you like that."

She shrugged. "Oh well. I've gotten it from her before, remember?" her face broke out into a grin. "Besides. I've got a little surprise set up for her tonight. Care to join me?"

**A/N: I got the idea for Sister Agnes from a couple of nuns I've known in my life. Sister Nancy, an old-school classic nun teacher, and Sister Melanie, from India, who died a few months ago after a 16-year battle with cancer. Please review!**


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